72 Prods. feels ‘Venomous’

Young adult novel set for film, comic book

Author Christopher Krovatin has sold the rights to his young adult novel “Venomous” to 72 Prods., which plans to adapt the book into a film as well as a comicbook through Dark Horse Comics.

Renamed “Deadlocke,” the property will continue to tell the story of a Manhattan teenager whose world is turned upside down when the dark alter ego who exists in his drawings threatens to take over his life.

Krovatin, who wrote “Venomous” when he was 19, will pen the script for the feature. Comicbook scribe Arvid Nelson and artist Nick Stakal will tackle the graphic novel for Dark Horse.

Nelson is the creator of the comicbook series “Rex Mundi,” which Johnny Depp is adapting into a feature, while Stakal has worked on the Dark Horse series “Criminal Macabre,” which Universal recently picked up to turn into a potential franchise.

“Venomous” was published last year by Simon & Schuster. Krovatin has also penned the books “Heavy Metal and You” and is writing his first young adult book for Broadway Books.

“Chris has created a character in Deadlocke who is both hero and villain, and we’re thrilled that Dark Horse shares our vision in bringing this new character to life in comicbook form,” said 72 Prods.’ Jen Chaiken and Sebastian Dungan, who founded the film production company in 2007 through a private equity fund.